This invention relates to a fabric formed of corespun yarns having a cured crosslinked composition applied thereto which imparts pucker and shrink resistance properties to the fabric. The invention also relates to a method for imparting these properties to a fabric.
Flame resistance is an important characteristic in textile fabrics used in certain applications, for example, bedroom articles such as mattress ticking, pillow ticking, and mattress covers, upholstery, floor coverings and wall coverings for office buildings. Many common textile fabrics formed of natural and synthetic yarns are flammable, and manufacturers have thus sought to produce fabrics having the aesthetic appeal of these textile fabrics but also fabrics having superior flame resistant properties.
It is known to treat or coat conventional nonflame retardant textile fabrics with flame retardant chemicals. These treated fabrics, however, have limited usefulness inasmuch as the flame retardant chemicals adversely affect the aesthetic properties of the fabrics, and moreover present toxicity problems.
An alternative is to form fabrics from flame resistant fibers such as Kevlar.RTM., Nomex.RTM., polybenzimidazole and the like. These fibers, however, also have undesirable aesthetic properties in that the hand of these fabrics is typically coarse, the drapability of the fabrics is poor, and the ability to dye the fabrics is limited.
The present invention is based on fabrics formed from corespun yarns having a fire-resistant core filament and a natural or synthetic fiber sheath surrounding the core. Since the sheath surrounds and completely covers the core, the outer surface of the yarn has the desired appearance and general characteristics of the sheath fibers, and the inner core provides the flame resistance properties to the yarn. Thus, fabrics formed from corespun yarns provide excellent flame retardant properties coupled with good aesthetic properties of dyeability, hand, drapability and the like. It has been found, however, that these fabrics do not perform well when laundered. More particularly, fabrics formed from corespun yarns, tend to pucker and shrink when washed thus adversely affecting the aesthetic appeal of the fabric. This puckering and shrinkage is thought to be caused by interfiber slippage wherein the sheath fiber shrinks and the core filament shifts and sometimes escapes from the sheath.
It is conventional to improve the shrink resistance of a fabric by treating it with a durable press finishing agent. Many of the durable press treatment processes used commercially employ as the finishing agent a resin based on formaldehyde. These formaldehyde-based resins, however, have undesirable side effects such as increased toxicity, increased flammability and reduced fabric strength particularly if methylol derivative resins are used. Additionally, such durable press treatments typically are not designed for application to corespun yarns.